The present invention involves fiber connection arrangements and methods of transmitting optical signals between optical signal emitters and detectors. More specifically, the present invention provides compact devices for connecting a plurality of optical signal emitters and detectors through image fiber bundles.
Integration of computer chips has proven to be troublesome over the years. Traditionally, inherent limitations on electrical conductor interconnections has hampered high speed communication between chips. As time progresses, integrated circuits become faster and smaller, thus, the limits of performance for these systems are further hampered by electrical resistance. To solve this problem, optic fiber interconnections were developed.
The use of fiber interconnections for optical signal transport allows high speed communications between optical signal emitters and detectors, such as Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Lasers (VCSELs) or edge emitting lasers and photo-detectors commonly used on computer chips. While providing an acceptable alternative to electrical wire interconnections, the current state of the art provides for individual generally linear optical fibers attached between the signal emitters and detectors on two chips. The drawbacks of this are readily apparent because considerable time and labor must be spent establishing the individual fiber interconnections between optical signal emitters and detectors. It is also known to use an oversampling approach in order to alleviate some of the alignment concerns. This has proven to be somewhat successful in connecting two opto-electronic devices.
Another problem inherent in the current use of fiber optic interconnections is optical signal entry alignment to the transport fiber. Currently, alignment must be critically maintained in order for a fiber interconnection between optical signal emitters and detectors to be functional.
It has been known to use a fiber optic plate to connect two opto-electronic devices together. There is an additional limitation in that only two opto-electronic devices can be connected in a designated space. In systems using this arrangement, opto-electronic chips are positioned facing one another with a fiber optic plate located therebetween to provide the needed optical communication.
There is a need to provide an easy interconnect between optical signal emitters and detectors on multiple opto-electronic devices. There is a further need to more densely package a plurality of opto-electronic chips together to provide more compact arrangements while providing optical interconnections.
The current invention provides optical signal transmission devices and methods of transmitting optical signals between optical signal emitters and detectors in a compact arrangement. The invention provides a multi-path optical signal transmission device which allows transmission of optical signals between optical signal emitters and detectors of multiple opto-electronic devices. The device comprises a multi-path structure with three active exterior faces allowing connection of multiple signal emitters and detectors, which are connected to differing exterior faces of the structure. The multi-path structure includes at least two coherent fiber bundle structures. Each coherent fiber bundle structure has at least a first, second and third face. The first face of the first coherent fiber bundle structure forms at least a portion of the first exterior face of the multi-path structure. The second face of the first coherent fiber bundle structure forms at least a portion of one of the second and third exterior faces of the multi-path structure. This provides optical communication between one of the first and second and the first and third exterior faces of the multi-path structure. A first face of the second coherent fiber bundle structure forms at least a portion of the second exterior face of the multi-path structure. The second face of the second coherent fiber bundle structure forms at least a portion of the third exterior face of the multi-path structure. This arrangement provides optical communication between the second and third exterior faces of the multi-path structure. The exterior faces of the multi-path structure are adapted to be optically connected to optical signal emitters or detectors on at least three opto-electronic devices.
In another aspect, a method of transmitting optical signals from at least three opto-electronic chips through an optical signal transmission device comprised of coherent fiber bundle structures, is provided. This method entails providing a first opto-electronic device with at least one signal emitter and detector, providing a second opto-electronic device with at least one signal detector, and providing a third opto-electronic device with one signal emitter. A first end of a first coherent fiber bundle structure is optically connected to the first opto-electronic device emitter. The second end of the first coherent fiber bundle structure is optically connected to the second opto-electronic device such that the detector on the second opto-electronic device and an emitter on the first opto-electronic device are optically connected. A first end of a second coherent fiber bundle structure is optically connected to the at least one signal detector on the first opto-electronic device. The second end of the second coherent fiber bundle structure is attached to at least one emitter on the third opto-electronic device. Optical signals emitted from the at least one signal emitter of the first and third opto-electronic devices and are transmitted through the coherent fiber bundle structures of the optical signal transmission device to the optically connected signal detectors.
In another aspect, the invention provides an end-bonded structure, used as a optical signal transmission device, to connect optical signal emitters and detectors. The end-bonded structure is comprised of a first group of at least two coherent fiber bundles, each having first and second ends, and a second group of at least two coherent fiber bundle structures, each having first and second ends. The second ends of the first and second fiber bundle groups are side-connected together. The side-connected second ends of the first group are optically connected to the second ends of the second group, with the second ends of the second group being collectively rotated approximately 90xc2x0 about a common axis relative to the second ends of the first group. The first ends of the first and second stacks are adapted for connection to opto-electronic devices.
In another aspect, an optical signal transmission device is provided having at least four coherent fiber bundle plates. The plates are positioned to form a rectilinear structure having a top face, a bottom face and four side exterior faces. The side exterior faces are adapted for coupling to opto-electronic devices. At least two of the stacked coherent fiber bundle plates provide optical communication between two adjacent side exterior faces of the structure. Additionally, at least two of the coherent fiber bundle plates provide optical communication between non-adjacent side exterior faces.
In another aspect, another configuration of an optical signal transmission device used to connect opto-electronic chips is provided. The optical signal transmission device is constructed from at least three coherent fiber bundle plates, the plates each having five exterior side faces, a top face and a bottom face. The exterior side faces of the at least three coherent fiber bundle plates are arranged to provide optical communication between at least two pairs of adjacent exterior side faces, as well as at least one pair of non-adjacent exterior side faces.
In another aspect, another configuration of an optical signal transmission device is provided. The device comprises at least six coherent fiber bundle plates in a stacked arrangement having six exterior sides, a top face and a bottom face. The coherent fiber bundle plates are arranged to provide optical communication between at least three pairs of adjacent sides. The exterior faces of the device are adapted to be optically connected to opto-electronic devices.
In another aspect, an optical signal transmission device is provided having four coherent fiber bundle structures. The first and the fourth structures have a top portion which has a pyramid shape with an apex and a larger base end. The second and third coherent fiber bundle structures have two cojoined sections, each section including a top portion which has a pyramid shape with an apex and a larger base end, with the two apexes of the pyramid shapes connected by a transition piece. The transition pieces of the second and third coherent fiber bundle structures are located in an axially perpendicular orientation. The first and fourth coherent fiber bundle structures are oriented adjacent to the second and third coherent fiber bundle structures such that at least four of the pyramid sides of the first and fourth coherent fiber bundle structures are in optical communication with at least two pyramid sides of the second coherent fiber bundle structure and two pyramid sides of the third coherent fiber bundle structure. The exterior faces of the coherent fiber bundle structure are adapted for connection to opto-electronic devices.
In another aspect, an optical signal transmission device used to spatially divide a plurality of input optical signals is also provided. The device is a multi-path structure having at least six exterior faces. The multi-path structure has at least two coherent fiber bundle structures comprised of parallel optic fibers extending from an input side to an output side. The optic fibers of each coherent fiber bundle structure are oriented at an angle of less than 90xc2x0 from the input and output sides. The first coherent fiber bundle structure is oriented such that the optic fibers extend in a first orientation, and the second coherent fiber bundle structure is placed on the first coherent fiber bundle structure such that the optic fibers of the second coherent fiber bundle structure extend in a second orientation. The input sides of the coherent fiber bundle structures are aligned with a first exterior face of the multi-path structure. The respective output sides of the coherent fiber bundle structures are aligned with at least one exterior face of the multi-path structure. At least one of the exterior faces of the structure is adapted to receive optical signals from a 1xc3x97m array, and at least one other exterior face is adapted to emit optical signals received by the multi-path structure in 1xc3x97n1 through 1xc3x97nL arrays where L greater than 1 and a sum of n1 to nL=m. The n1 through nL arrays are offset from one another.
In another aspect, the invention provides a method of routing an optical signal from a defined input position through an optical signal transmission device to a desired output position. The method includes transmitting an optical signal into a first face portion of a multi-path structure comprising 2 n stacked coherent fiber bundle structures which defines an mxc3x97n array of receptor areas; receiving the optical signal at a detector array on an optically connected opto-electronic processing device having n vertically stacked horizontal 1xc3x97m detector arrays with corresponding alternately stacked 1xc3x97r emitter arrays, optically connected to a second face portion of the multi-path structure, each vertically stacked horizontal 1xc3x97m detector array being aligned with one of the stacked coherent fiber bundle structures which has parallel optic fibers oriented in a first direction and each 1xc3x97r emitter array being aligned with one of the stacked coherent fiber bundle structures having parallel optic fibers oriented in a second direction; processing the received optical signal in an associated nth vertically stacked horizontal 1xc3x97m detector array and generating a corresponding signal at a desired emitter rx in the corresponding 1xc3x97r emitter array; emitting a second optical signal from the emitter r; transmitting the second optical signal through the multi-path structure to a third face portion of the multi-path structure; receiving the transmitted optical signal at an rth detector array on a second optically connected opto-electronic processing device having r horizontally stacked vertical 1xc3x97n detector arrays with corresponding 1xc3x97s emitter arrays; processing the transmitted optical signal in the rth horizontally stacked 1xc3x97n detector array and generating a corresponding signal at a desired emitter sy in the corresponding 1xc3x97s emitter array; and emitting a third optical signal through the multi-path structure to the fourth face portion in a desired rx, sy position.
In another aspect, the invention provides an optical signal transmission device having first and second optical signal detector/emitter arrays. A multi-path structure having at least four exterior faces is located between the detector/emitter arrays. The multi-path structure is adapted to transmit an optical signal from an input position in an mxc3x97n array to a desired output position in a rxc3x97s array, where m, n, r and s are integers greater than zero and m equals r and n equals s. The multi-path structure is optically connected to the detector/emitter arrays. The multi-path structure has two groups of coherent fiber bundle structures. The first group of coherent fiber bundle structures is comprised of parallel optic fibers extending from a first exterior face portion of the multi-path structure to a second exterior face portion of the multi-path structure. The parallel optic fibers are oriented at an angle of less than 90xc2x0 from the connected faces. The first face portion defines an array of receptor areas for transmission of optical signals through the first group of coherent fiber bundle structures along a first pathway to a first array of emission areas on the second face which are optically connected to the first optical signal detector/emitter array. The first faces of the first group of coherent fiber bundle structures are located on the first exterior face of the multi-path structure and the second faces of the first group of coherent fiber bundle structures are located on the second exterior face of the multi-path structure. The second group of the coherent fiber bundle structures are stacked with the first group of coherent fiber bundle structures. The second group of coherent fiber bundle structure are comprised of parallel optic fibers extending from the second face of the multi-path structure to another face of the multi-path structure and are optically connected to the second optical signal detector/emitter array. The first optical signal detector/emitter array has n rows of m optical detectors and a corresponding n rows of r emitters, each row being aligned with a respective coherent fiber bundle structure. The first detector/emitter array is adapted to receive an input optical signal into a first optical detector m and activate a desired optical signal emitter rx in a corresponding row to the first optical detector on the first detector/emitter array to generate a second optical signal. The second optical signal detector/emitter array has r columns of n detectors and a corresponding r columns of s emitters. The second optical signal detector/emitter array is adapted to receive the second optical signal in an nth detector in an aligned column of the r columns of optical detectors and activate a desired optical signal emitter sy in a corresponding r column to the nth optical detector to generate a third optical signal in a desired location.